After staying in relatively cheap and simple accommodation for the last month or so, it was rather wonderful to spend 24 hours in the lap of luxury on a houseboat in Alleppey. We could've saved a few rupees and gone for a small boat, but instead we decided to splash out and get an obsenely large boat for the two of us!
We had an upper floor sun deck all to ourselves, which we lounged about on, sunbathing and playing bananagrams (look it up if you haven't heard of it, it's a great game!). We had our own chef on board who whipped up delicious feasts for us, the fish fry in particular was divine (fish fried in masala spices). Our surroundings were incredibly lush, palm trees and lily pads everywhere, with village life going on around us; women washing clothes by beating them on the rocks, boys playing cricket, and men fishing from their small wooden boats.
The only downside of our 24 hour luxury cruise was the heat. We saved 1000 rupees by turning down air-conditioning, but we didn't half regret that decision when trying to sleep in above 30 degree temperatures with nothing but a measly fan pushing around the hot air. In the end we had to brave both mosquitos and the crew by sleeping with the windows and bedroom door open - we survived unscathed on both accounts happily, and managed to get a few hours' sleep at least.
It was a wonderfully relaxing time for us overall, and as Lonely Planet says, it was worth every darned rupee!
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